Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Is Claire Kober running a dictatorship?
Below is a blog post that was written by someone who attended the Labour Party meeting where they selected their candidate for Noel Park.
It strikes me that many Labour members do not want Kober as Leader but she has subverted democracy ensuring only people supportive to her retaining power will be allowed to have a vote on her future. This does sound like a dictatorship.
Is this something we should accept as residents. What if there are better people out there to run our council and be our Leader but this is not being allowed? Surely democracy is vital? It sounds like Tower Hamlets.
Disclaimer: I am not a member of the labour party (because of antics below). I do not know Seema, although I had the pleasure of watching her in action at a council meeting and she ran rings around them, whilst still being calm and funny. I can see why Noel Park Labour wanted her.
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ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM, SEXISM, FIXING AND DICTATORSHIP FLY IN STORMY WOOD GREEN LABOUR PARTY MEETING
Following the resignation of Cllr Marshall in Noel Park ward, the Labour party started the process to select a new candidate to contest the by-election to be held on Sept 17th.
The two applicants for the role were Stephen Mann (husband of Haringey Mayor, Jennifer Mann) and Seema Chandwani.
Suspicion began when Mann started contacting members of the Noel Park branch of the Labour Party from mid-July. Ordinary members, unaware of the process were somewhat surprised a few weeks later to see an email sent on the 6th Aug 2015 to formally open the process with a closing date of 12th Aug. Ms Chandwani who had applied, had only been able to contact members from the evening of the closing date.
Both candidates were subject to an interview prior to Noel Park members voting on who they wished to select. The interviews were scheduled on Sat 15th Aug, however Mann already had his interview the previous weekend, before the deadline closed. On both of the interview panels was Cllr Elin Weston, the Councillor in Hornsey with Mann’s wife and also the chair of the Labour group, who herself would require votes from the new Noel Park Councillor to retain that position. Mann, a Hornsey resident would also be eligible to vote for Weston for her reselection in 2018.
Ms Chandwani was informed on Sun afternoon that she was not successful but was able to appeal; her appeal was rejected and she was only informed hours before the selection meeting.
Members of the Noel Park branch, unaware of the situation, turned up to cast their votes and were surprised not to see Ms Chandwani on the list of candidates. Many members were holding her leaflet and began to ask where she was. It was obvious as the discussion of her absence progressed that the majority had come to vote for her. If she was not rejected – she would have won.
Steve Hart, who was embroiled in the Falkirk election scandal, struggled to keep control of the meeting as concerns of racism, sexism and accusations of fixing in favour of Mann were made. Ms Chandwani was the only ethnic and woman candidate.
Members wanted to know the reasons of her being rejected as many did not believe from her literature and meetings they had with her that she was incapable. Ms Chandwani is currently the Secretary of the Tottenham Labour Party, one of the most senior positions in the party, members were bemused how someone in such a position could be unsuccessful. Tensions grew as Hart could not give any responses to the questions posed.
It is believed that Ms Chandwani was blocked as she is a “Lammy-Loyalist” [it is no secret that David and Seema are very close]. Tensions between the Council Leader Claire Kober and David Lammy have been simmering for a number of months as Lammy questions decisions made by the council on housing, youth centres and Marcus Garvey library. Kober in-turn has publically endorsed Lammy’s rival in the mayoral race. Blocking Ms Chandwani is being seen as another attack on Lammy from Kober. Some believe that Ms Chandwani’s popularity could see her overthrow Kober as Leader, leaving her and Lammy to overturn some of the decisions upsetting many residents.
Members of Noel Park branch were presented with Mann and two other candidates, both of whom the members had not heard from until the meeting. One was a former Councillor and the other the son of a current councillor – all were white males.
After the selection meeting Ms Chandwani tweeted congratulations to Mann. Mann, who ironically wrote a book on blacklisting, did not respond.
Ms Chandwani continues to be the Secretary of the Tottenham Labour Party for the third year, a position she won by being voted in by members from all 9 wards within the constituency, including Seven Sisters where Kober is a councillor.
2018 will be interesting.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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It's possible, Pavlos, that John D is simply trying to avoid reopening that bag of nastiness on HoL. In which case, entirely understandable.
But if you're curious, John McMullan did a fine job by launching this discussion thread - to which he gave the link.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Thanks, P. Knight.
By the way can I suggest that it's fruitless to reply further to Simon P. Please don't feed the troll.
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Was this: "and the other the son of a current councillor" Tim Waters? Son of Anne? Past flatmate of Peter Morton from St Ann's?
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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David Lammy is late to the game of paying attention to his constituents. His mayoral bid has put him into Listening Mode, and then Saying What You Want to Hear mode, especially re housing - " I will build a million houses in London" or thereabouts. But up till now he has done nothing to challenge the developers' plans for NuTottenham, with its ensuing social cleansing. The Marcus Garvey library cock-up would not have got on his radar this time last year.
Just sayin'.
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Permalink Reply by Haringey Hero on
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As a labour member Noel Park resident, I actually attended this selection. I was 1 of around 20 voters. This blog sounds like a classic case of sour grapes with a side order of fabrication. I do not know the in and outs of the Labour Party & council hierarchy but as someone who was actually there this is my brief take.
Poppycock - p knight suggests many voters came holding Ms Chandwani leaflet, p.knight has been ill informed as I saw none of Ms Chandwani leaflets all evening.
Codswallop - there was no hooha as p.knight indicates. A gentleman asked if Ms Chandwani was still eligible to be voted for. There was a swift response of "no". The meeting proceeded in the usual fashion.
I find it ludicrous to suggest that Ms Chandwani would of won had she not been "blocked". whats the bases for this?
Comical - p.knight indicates that one of the candidates "the son of a current councillor" was a white male. He was a Greek gentleman (ethnic minority) not "white male" as suggested.
It's clear that your Information stems from a wishy washy source.
To be honest I have doubts over the bloggers intentions, this coupled with p.knights long and over top replies below.
All very suspicious.
I must say that I do not know Ms Chandwani and nothing is aimed at her, I just get sick of nonsensical articles where details have quite simply been fabricated.
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"1 of around 20 voters" <- SEE WHAT I MEAN!!!!????
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Greek is White. I won't be entering into a debate about that, it is fact.
Since I have posted this a few other people who were there have contacted me and confirm that it was definitely a heated meeting and it was in protest over this matter. You must've nodded off, it was late.
But the content of the meeting is not the pivotal issue. People are very suspicious of why this happened and it stinks. The husband of the Mayor assisted to win an election by his friends sounds very plausible to me. So the pivotal issues are what happened outside the meeting around the interview.
Members of the public have been exposed to what the right-wing of Labour are capable of, we are seeing it with Corbyn. You can try and downplay this incident but this, the St Ann's issue and the attacks on Corbyn all show that there is a problem.
I revert back to the original question. Is Kober running a dictatorship?
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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" He was a Greek gentleman (ethnic minority) not "white male"
My Colombian friends are darker-skinned than the Greeks but consider themselves to be white. I'm sure the Greeks do too.
I belong to an ethnic minority ( Scottish ) and perhaps am a gentleman ( opinions vary ) but would describe myself as a white male.
Your nits need to be picked more carefully
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We can thank the Labour Party and the Metropolitan Police for the anonymous postings on this thread. Somehow it's lacking a certain something for me because of it.
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Permalink Reply by Cllr Emina Ibrahim on
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Truly gobsmacked !
I can say that I don't actually believe that anyone on this thread was at the meeting or had a partner at the meeting. I was there not as a voting member but as my mum needs help with accessibility I was allowed to support. I was chair of Noel Park ward Labour for a few years and stood down when I became a Cllr I was also a member until early this year. I can vouch for the fact that knowing all the people in the room I can honestly say the tone is not familiar or attributable to any of the members present either the original blogger of the respondent. This for me is confirmed by the fact that on checking the activity of 3 posters they seem to only have decided to discover HoL yesterday morning. Noel park members are good, kind people passionate about their local area. They are not the kind of people to have any time whatsoever for slurs and smears from anyone against anyone and that's been made crystal clear.
So I think what is best is that both the Knight (in shining armour) and Havvago Hero toddle off and show some sensitivity and respect to Seema.
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